General manager Brian Cashman met with Joe Girardi’s agent Steve Mandell Wednesday and the Yankees remain hopeful they will be able to lock up their manager before the end of the month.
The meeting went well, according to someone familiar with the situation, and Yankees hierarchy will have further discussions Thursday.
The Yankees would like to re-sign Girardi before teams with openings, such as the Cubs or Nationals, can get involved.
“The sooner the better,” said someone close to the negotiations. “There’s a sincere effort to get something done here.”
That would take a raise from the three-year, $9 million deal Girardi just completed. Contemporaries such as Mike Scioscia ($5 million) and Dusty Baker ($4 million) make more per season, so Girardi could become among the highest paid in the game.
People in the Yankees organization believe they will know in the next few days whether Girardi is determined to stay or if he wants to shop around for a better offer, especially with the Cubs reportedly having serious interest in making a run at the manager to replace the fired Dale Sveum.
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When Cashman gathers his pro scouts next week at Yankee Stadium and begins to map a plan to fill the huge holes that exist, there is a good chance Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka’s name will be heavily discussed.
Assistant GM Billy Eppler spent considerable time in Japan this season watching Tanaka.
With CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova the only two proven starters likely in the 2014 rotation, the Yankees need starting pitching because Michael Pineda and Manuel Banuelos are question marks and Hiroki Kuroda is a free agent.
“He is really good, might be the best pitcher ever from Japan,’’ a talent evaluator said of the 24-year-old right-hander for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, who went 22-0 with a 1.23 ERA during the regular season.
Not eligible for free agency, Tanaka has to be posted by his Japanese team, which could go as high as $60 million, according to the evaluator.
The posting fee doesn’t count against a team’s payroll for next season, when the Yankees want to get under $189 million. The team with the highest bid then has to agree on a contract with the player.
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Even though the Yankees have Mark Teixeira for three more years, they are among several clubs with scouts in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where Jose Abreu, a 26-year-old Cuban defector and first baseman, is putting on a show during workouts. The Red Sox, Giants and White Sox have also been watching Abreu, according to a scout.
Another scout who works Latin America and has seen Abreu believes the 6-foot-4, 260-pound right-handed hitter will sign with the Red Sox or Giants with the Rangers a possibility.
“He is a below-average defender and a mistake hitter,’’ the scout said. “But he makes you pay for mistakes.’’
Industry sources believe Abreu will sign for around $40 million which is less than fellow Cuban defectors Yasiel Puig (seven years, $42 million) got from the Dodgers and more than Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes (four years, $36 million).
— Additional reporting by George A. King III and Mark Hale